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Title of the paper: How Corporate Social Responsibility boosts corporate financial and non-
financial performance: The Moderating role of Ethical Leadership
Name of author(s): Basit Feroz (Corresponding Author)
Department of Management Sciences
COMSATS University Islamabad (Sahiwal Campus), Sahiwal 57000, Pakistan;
Email: mailtobasitferoz@yahoo.com.com
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9054-9720
Abstract: Corporate social responsibility has always been considered as an important topic and
many studies have been conducted on the relationship between CSR and corporate performance
but the results are still inconclusive. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate
the impact of CSR on corporate performance (financial and non-financial) with the moderating
impact of ethical leadership. Data is collected from 222 listed companies in Iran using simple
random sampling technique. For analyzing the results of this study, structural equation modeling
has been used while for the moderation, the hierarchical regression technique has been adopted.
Results of our study suggested that there is significant positive relationship between CSR and
corporate financial as well as non-financial performance (corporate image and customer
satisfaction). While in case of moderator, ethical leadership helps an organization increase its
financial and non-financial performance when leaders practice strong ethical leadership.
Therefore, the finding of this study concludes that ethical leadership positively moderates the
relation between CSR and firm financial and non-financial (corporate image and customer
satisfaction) performance. This study will help management to realize the importance of CSR
practices in organizations especially in Iranian context.

Keywords: CSR, corporate image, customer satisfaction, ethical leadership, financial

performance, non-financial performance, Iran